New Sam Haskins Exhibit Opens at Gallery Ofr

PARIS, FRANCE — Move over Terry Richardson, Sam Haskins is in the room!
The work of the South African-born, legendary fashion photographer (1926-2009) is currently being honored at the hip Marais gallery Ofr. Known for having liberated the female nude in photography and his
iconic pre-Photoshop montage techniques, his work can teach today's frenetically airbrushed shoots a thing or two. The show focuses on three decades worth of Sam's calendars — from 1971 onwards — in which he lent an experimental, organic touch to commercial projects. The space also displays unique prints from he 60s, and a set of the only limited edition color work ever printed by the artist.

We met with Sam's son, Ludwig Haskins, who looked after the Parisian exhibition and gave us a special look into Sam's impact on fashion photography.

ELLE: What is the exhibition showing exactly?Haskins: Ofr's showcasing the best of Sam's calendar work, with seven different calendars spanning 30 years from 1971. During this period, he produced 35 calendars, with Pentax as the single biggest client. The show also includes a small selection of Sam's black and white prints most from 'November Girl' 1967 and the only set of limited edition prints ever produced by Sam, made just weeks before he died.

ELLE: Can you tell us more about Sam's technique?

Haskins: He was invariably thorough in his preparation with copious reading and sketches produced long before he began shooting. But once the shoot went live, irrespective of whether it was in the studio or on location he went into a highly extemporaneous mode, working primarily to create the right mood in the model, but also passionately and instinctively exploiting any accidents of light, and opportunities of styling that were entirely unplanned.

ELLE: And his team was much smaller than in today's shoots, correct?Haskins: This mode of working lent itself to shooting logistics that could well be dubbed `crew-lite'. Sam's calendar crew usually consisted of just three people, himself, the model and an assistant. The models did their own make up and hair, Sam worked as stylist, location researcher and art director and the assistant worked their socks off.

ELLE: Sam has published lots of books; can you tell us about the impact of them on the world of fashion photography?

Haskins: His first book Five Girls 1962, has a unique place in the history of photography. It brought natural sensual charm and extraordinary black and white photographic craftsmanship to nude photography and laid the foundation for Sam's entire career, not least of all for Cowboy Kate, 1963 which became probably the best selling creative photography book in the history of the genre with over a million copies sold worldwide.Five Girls was an immediate creative influence on other photographers like Jean-Loup Sieff who went on to produce some of the most important nude photographs of the post war years and later, in turn, influenced Sam.

ELLE: Why do you think he was so relevant at the time, and why is he still relevant today?

Haskins: It's the X-factor, partly a result of Sam's unique creative signature and partly a product of the sixties which is so seductive to contemporary stylists and photographers. Sam's work is `referenced' somewhere in the fashion and photo world on a daily basis. When crews of 10, 20 or more professionals step onto their vehicles to shoot on location they would do well to keep in mind that the very magic from which they are drawing inspiration was produced with a fraction of their technical resources.

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